There is a special combination of flavors that happens when you mix Baked Maduros with a Bacon Avocado Salad. The Baked Maduros are an amazingly unique combination of sweet and savory. Somehow the rich earthy flavor of the green plantains is only matured, and not replaced by the ripening process. Which is great for those of us who choose to consume them! Keeping the rich savory flavor, the ripe plantains sweeten nicely. And the baking process deepens and brings out both the sweetness and the richness of the plantains. This is the perfect add-on for a Bacon Avocado Salad, and just the right amount of extra substance to take an otherwise cold salad to a UPC’s Hot&Cold Salad. Otherwise the heat of the bacon fades quickly when nothing else is hot in the dish (fine for a normal salad; not what we want in a Hot&Cold Salad).

‘Tis the season for Hot&Cold Salads! They were great in the summer because they gave me some of the freedom I look for with flavors and textures. But at the time, since it was hot out (and I eat outside whenever possible) I generally preferred my meals cold. Now it’s full-on winter, and a Hot&Cold salad is just the thing to satisfy my salad cravings while still eating something warm to give me that warm, fuzzy feeling I like to have after a hot meal in the winter. Strangely, I eat inside and it’s as hot as a cool summer day in here, my body somehow knows that it’s cold outside, and appreciates the hot meal.

1. Make the Baked Maduros.Note: These are excellent if they’re refrigerated and re-heated – so if you make these regularly, there’s no need to have them be fresh for the meal.

2. About 25 minutes before meal time, start the bacon.Note: The bacon cooks faster when it’s cut into shorter pieces. Since you’re going to crumble it anyway, this is a good way to ensure an even level of cooking in the bacon.

3. Prep the salad while waiting for the Baked Maduros and Bacon to complete.

4. About 10 minutes before meal time, turn the oven off and let the Baked Maduros rest with the oven cracked open at the top. This will help them be at a manageable temperature when served.

5. About 3 minutes before meal time, combine all ingredients except the Baked Maduros and mix the salad thoroughly.

6. Serve the salad with the Baked Maduros on the side of the bowl, as shown in the picture. This way they can be eaten as part of the salad or separately. Now serve, and enjoy!

Questions:

Have you been eating Hot&Cold Salads?

What kinds of ingredients do you prefer to heat up for your Hot&Cold Salads?

Never? NEVER?!? Weeelllll… It’s about time you did!
“Maduro” is spanish for “Ripe”. In this case, it’s a short name for “Platanos Maduros” which is, as you probably already guessed, “Ripe Plantains”. So wander into the produce section of a grocery store (preferably a grocery with a lot of South American or Caribbean people living nearby) and find Plantains. You should be able to get them either ripe or green.
Bonus Tip: The green ones are hard, and are amazingly delicious when baked with bacon+bacon grease!!

Oh, it’s indescribable! I always avoid the microwave when I can; so often that means that reheating is either in the oven or frying pan. And there’s always a bit of bacon fat in the frying pan, just in case I need it for something or other…